How Things Change- Brightening Things Up
by Shadow-StrikeRaven
Summary: Set after How Things Change, No.6. Merlin's new and improved sword skills have Arthur insisting on a sparring match. Throw in a crowd, a load of betting, a lot of banter and some paperwork and you have a recipe for your average day in the lives of Merlin and Arthur. One-off fic set after event of 'Why Is It Never Quiet On The Western Front'. Written for SpanaHana


Merlin sighed as he threw on the chainmail and belted his sword over the top. Arthur, despite all of his protests, had insisted that he wore the chainmail.  
Probably hoped it would slow him down.  
Prat.  
Merlin sighed again.  
Ever since they had seen him with his 'new and improved sword skills', Arthur had been on at him to spar. Eventually, Merlin had given in.  
Much to Bedivere's delight, seeing as he had bet that Merlin would have given in within the first week. Where was the faith, huh?  
Merlin did a few stretches to relax his muscles and muttered a quick spell to make the chainmail weightless. One less thing to worry about. He ran a hand through his hair as he left the tent, wincing slightly as the sunlight hit him before his eyes adjusted.  
Then he sighed again.  
It appeared that the entire bloody city had turned up to see this particular fight. Gwaine was there taking betting slips, and Merlin had no doubt he was the only one who had bet about him lasting more than a few minutes. Hmm, then again, maybe Leon had showed a little faith in him… Maybe…

Merlin ignored the stares that were directed at him, and chose to scowl at the huge grin across Arthur's face. As he came up to him, Merlin's expression changed to a grin.  
"You know what? They came here for a show. Not a sparring match…"  
"What are you trying to say, Merlin?"  
"How about I temporarily dull the edges of the blades? Just a little…"  
"Afraid of a little blood Merlin?"  
"Not my own…"  
"Oh really?" Arthur swung Excalibur, with one hand, in a wide arc, then grasped the hilt with both hands. "Go for it."  
Merlin's eyes flashed, and both of them felt their blades tingle slightly. Then Merlin grinned.  
"You go for it…"  
Arthur laughed, then stepped forward, slashing.  
Merlin's arm swung up and the blades let out a resounding clang. Merlin grinned. He really would have to thank Freya…  
Gasps rang out from the surrounding crowd as Merlin and Arthur ducked, wove, dodged and parried each other's blows.  
After about fifteen minutes, they simultaneously broke off and took a couple of steps back.  
Arthur seemed to be regretting the decision to wear some of his armour and Merlin felt kinda sorry for him. With a flash of gold, Arthur's eyes widened, and he raised an eyebrow at Merlin, his, now weightless, armour not bothering him in the slightest.  
"This would have come in handy before now…"  
"Only just perfected the spell. I do _do_ things in my spare time, you know. Useful things if you can believe that."  
"It's a stretch, but I can just about manage to believe you."  
"Thanks for the show of faith. How long did Gwaine bet I'd last?"  
"Till a tie. Leon went for a slightly less generous twenty minutes. The rest ranged from thirty seconds, Daniel, to fifteen minutes. That was Bedivere."  
"What is it with Daniel and betting against me?"  
"He seems to think that, one day, you will run out of things to surprise us with."  
"Challenge accepted."  
"Great. Just what I need…" Arthur lunged forward again, and Merlin parried the blow. "Another bloody test of wills."  
Merlin sideswiped, then changed to an upwards blow, which Arthur deflected with the hilt of Excalibur.  
"What do you call _this_?"  
Arthur grinned as Merlin blocked a jab at his left leg, and dodged the resulting backwards swipe.  
"Proving a point."  
Merlin used the momentum from the backwards swipe to spin and aim at Arthurs shoulder, causing the blonde to have to duck, before stepping back. Merlin followed through with a two handed blow towards Arthurs left hand side as he replied.  
"And what point-" He stepped back from the impact as Arthur blocked his attack, then parried the next blow, "would that be, Sire?"  
Arthur sent three blows at Merlin, replying as the younger man blocked them, then gave a lunge of his own, which he was hard pressed to stop.  
"That it is ridiculous to assume that you are amazing at… everything."  
Merlin couldn't help grinning as he span and caused Arthur to have to retreat a few steps as he sent a strike his way, following through with two slashes.  
"First of all… that is rather insulting. Second… we both know that… I can't use a mace to save my life…"  
Arthur shrugged as he blocked the blows and attacked again, exchanging several blows.  
"You don't have to. When… would you ever … use a mace? Seriously, the very idea is ludicrous…"  
"Wow, big word for you, Sire... I'm impressed."  
"Idiot…"  
Arthur dodged the next blow and sent one of his own back.  
"Prat." Merlin retorted, blocking the strike and ducking the slash that followed through, bringing his own sword up and swinging at Arthur's undefended side.  
Arthur managed to spin away from it, and parried the following blow, sending ano ther resounding clash across the clearing. The two stayed that way for a few seconds, and Arthur nodded as they pulled away.  
"You've gotten good. Even if it is a magic sword."  
Merlin snorted as he initiated the next bout.  
"Like yours isn't? You know how much… effort I… put into that… thing?"  
He punctuated each line with a blow, two of which Arthur ducked, and one he parried, pushing Merlin's sword away and bringing his own back in an arc.  
"Alright, alright," he sighed, as Merlin dodged the strike, "You've told me enough times. Riddlesome Kilgarrah this, irritating Kilgarrah that-" he ducked a blow, the sent one of his own. " Then cryptic Kilgarrah, then lake-" he lashed out again, arm jolting as Merlin locked the blow with a more force than he expected, "-and back to the lake, immortal army-" he parried Merlin's two quick blows, and sent one of his own. "-huge rock, ridiculous tale-"  
"Which you believed…" Merlin huffed, sideswiping Arthur's sword and lunging, causing Arthur to have to spin out of the way. Arthur used the momentum to swing himself back around, and caught Merlin's sword, which was wrenched from his grasp.  
Merlin ducked the two blows Arthur followed through with, before rolling, grabbing the hilt of Shadowmancer, and bouncing back to his feet just in time to block the third blow.  
"Seriously though," he continued, as though nothing had happened, "I can't believe you fell for that."  
"Yes," Arthur sighed, "You've said. Many times." He blocked the sideswipe Merlin directed at him, and twisted his sword around, catching the top of Merlin's blade.  
"And I'm saying it again," Merlin retorted, spinning and shoving backwards into Arthur, causing him to pull Excalibur away and unlock the two swords. He span back just as Arthur got his balance back, and the two lunged at the same time, their swords colliding and making a firm 'X ' in the air.  
"The same with all those other excuses I gave. I honestly can't believe it."  
Arthur rolled his eyes as they pulled back,  
"Are you never going to drop it?"  
Merlin shrugged.  
"Nope. Tavern… seriously…" He shook his head, and nearly yelped as Arthur lunged again, barely sidestepping in time to see Arthur fly past him. The king span and aimed another bow at him, which Merlin deflected before following through. Arthur parried it and the two disengaged.  
In the few seconds lull after that, Merlin noticed Gwaine behind Arthur, and sighed.  
"I had my back to… _That_? How did you cope with the gawping eyes behind my back?"  
"Like you didn't fee them boring into yours?"  
"Well, yeah, but I can ignore it. You, on the other hand, can't."  
"And why is that?"  
"People staring at you. It inflates your ego…" Merlin grinned as he parried Arthur's lunge, and finished as he shoved him away. "Which is dangerously high as it is."  
"So I'm in for another bout of ritual humiliation?"  
Merlin twisted his sword around, and did a complicated forward thrust, casing Arthur to have to twist his arm awkwardly to block it.  
"Not from me this time. I've told Gwaine. It's not fair."  
Arthur recovered from the last blow and directed one of his own towards Merlin's right.  
"What? You and him against all of us?"  
Merlin twisted his sword flipping it and holding it up to block the attack, his little finger pressed against the edge of the cross guard. He flipped it back as Arthur took a step backwards and tightened his grip, bringing his other hand to grip the hilt.  
"Precisely." Merlin said, aiming for Arthur's shoulder.  
"Okay, I'll give you that one."  
Arthur said, sidestepping the lunge, and span Excalibur towards Merlin's ribs.  
Merlin backpedalled and directed Arthur's sword tip upwards, sending it in an arc.  
"Why, thankyou Sire." Merlin said, deciding not to follow through the attack, and giving Arthur a grin as he twisted Excalibur back to his side. "How generous of you."  
"No follow through?" Arthur asked, regarding the parry Merlin had just made, and the younger man shrugged.  
"Like you said, I can't be amazing at everything."  
Arthur's eyes widened, and he raised an eyebrow as Merlin spoke again.  
"Anyways, I'm rather bored now. What do you people see in hitting each other with sharp shiny sticks?"  
"I'm not sure myself. But it feels good. Tie?"  
Merlin took the proffered hand and shook it, grinning his signature goofy grin.  
"Tie. Gwaine will be happy."  
"And that's your problem."  
Merlin's grin faded and he face palmed, before pulling off his gloves.  
"Great," he said, one of his gloves between his teeth and voice lightly muffled because of it. "Jus' wha' I nee'…" He pulled off the other glove and stuffed them both through his belt just as Gwaine and Leon reached them shortly followed by the rest of the knights.

Arthur left them to congratulate Merlin and head off to take off his armour.  
He had just entered the tent when Gwen came up beside him and started helping him to unbuckle the various traps and tug off the bracers.  
"He's good." She commented, and Arthur nodded.  
"I know. I really need to pay more attention to how the idiot spends his time… For example, the fact that the armour is weightless."  
Gwen laughed.  
"Handy trick. And, so you know, he spends most of his spare time in the room on the top floor of his quarters. No-one's quite sure what he does up there, and no-one but Ash is brave enough to venture up. And _he_ doesn't tell anybody what Merlin's up to anyway."  
"I know. That kid is as stubborn as Merlin."  
"Aww, come on. You know it's good for Merlin to have someone to talk to and to help him out. I can tell you're worried about him. Don't try to hide it."  
"I'm just worried that he isn't getting enough time to sleep. I don't ever want to see him in a state like he was a few weeks ago."  
"He's fine Arthur. I think Ash is under orders from some of the druid elders, not to mention Gaius, to slip a sleeping draught into his food and drink if he doesn't get enough sleep. And to force feed and drink him if he doesn't eat or drink any of it."  
"Actually… It's not just Gaius and the druids…"  
"Arthur…" At Gwen's warning tone, Arthur had the decency to look slightly sheepish.  
"I was there when Gaius asked, and I turned it into an official kind of… order."  
"Turned what into an order?" Merlin's voice was as chirpy as usual as he came in, already lifting his chainmail over his head and depositing it on one of the benches. He belted his sword back on and rolled his eyes as he saw that Arthur was still wearing most of his armour.  
"What is it with you knightly types and all the metal? Honestly…"

He grumbled under his breath as his expert fingers got Arthur out of the 'metal' within a couple of minutes, and Arthur grinned as he tossed the chainmail on top of the pile.  
Flint chose this moment to walk in.  
"Sorry for the delay, Sire. Bran decided to run riot after a chicken in the courtyard. I swear the dog hates me… Oh, hey Merlin."  
Merlin grinned as Arthur laughed.  
"Tell me about it," Merlin said, sympathetic. "I swear that dog had it in for me since the day I got here… The amount of times he tripped me up…"  
"Oh, the dog tripped you up Merlin?" Arthur butt in, still snorting, "I thought that was your own two feet…?"  
"Arthur? How would you like to be reacquainted with Mr mud puddle? I know you two got on so well last time you… slipped. "  
Arthur sobered up immediately, as he recalled the horrible feeling of being plastered from head to toe in mud. That smelt suspiciously of the stables.  
"You wouldn't…?"  
"Try me."  
Merlin's gin was evil, and Arthur held up his hands.  
"I'd rather not. Unlike Gwaine, I learn the first time…"  
"Second. That time you were training with Leon, called me clumsy and promptly fell over into the mud? Not an accident."  
"Why you little-"  
"Oi!" Gwen's sharp voice rang out, and Flint was grinning as he sauntered off, skirting the half amused, half irritated king.  
"That's enough. You're meant to be grown men."  
"Physically at least," Flint butt in, grinning, "Nobody has said anything about mentally, m'lady. Oh, and I'll have dinner ready just after noon Sire."  
With that, the young man strolled out, thanking Merlin when he muttered a spell that would keep the precariously stacked armour from tumbling to the floor.  
Arthur shook his head as he regarded the retreating back for a moment, then turned to Merlin, his earlier irritation seemingly forgotten.  
"You were right Merlin. I would hate a bootlicker…"  
Merlin grinned, flexing his fingers,  
"My work here is done."  
Gwen just sighed, and pecked Arthur on the cheek.  
"I give up. Just play nice."  
With that, she left, heading in the same direction as Flint, and leaving the two to plan the best way to escape to the castle without being accosted by the eager knights and spectators.

Half an hour, and one light bending enchantment later, and the two were safely in Arthur's stateroom.  
Merlin slumped down and pulled a huge pile of paperwork towards him, sighing as he sent a mental note to Flint, made easier by the fact that his mind was familiar and by the fact that he had no problem with Merlin speaking to him in this fashion.  
"_Better make that a meal for two, Flint. Bloody paperwork…"  
"Stateroom?"_ Flint responded,  
_"Yeah…"  
"No problem."  
"Thanks Flint…"_  
Merlin cut the link off and told Arthur what had been said, making him sigh.  
"Two hours till lunch. Two hours of paperwork and your snide remarks about my terrible writing skills. Brilliant."  
"Oh, don't tell me I don't brighten up the dull chore of drafting responses to…" Merlin picked up a piece of parchment and read it, and the name of the sender, "Lord Ramar with regards to the influx of leather compared to the relative prices charged by Camelotian leather tanners. " He whistled slightly. "Wow. That's a bad one. Almost as bad as the '_if we were to repave the street that has been upturned, we would have to give the utmost regard to the colour and shade of the stones' _Remember that one Arthur?"  
Arthur blanched.  
"Who could forget… Reading it and doing a response was one of the dullest seven minutes of my life."  
"I wrote it!"  
"And I had to approve it."  
"You had to-!" Merlins eyes widened in mock outrage. "I'm the one that approves _your_ work, your royal pratness. Or had you forgotten the great speech mistake from two years ago?"  
Arthur shuddered at the memory, still grateful that Merlin had spotted the… error. Not that he was going to let the idiot know that.  
"Oh, that was years ago. Just sit down. If we make a start now, we may be done before the sun sets."  
Merlin gave a dramatic sigh and flopped down, pulling a sheaf of parchment towards him and picking up a quill.  
"Fine. But this is the _last time_ Arthur. The _very_ last time I'm helping you with this."  
Arthur grinned as Merlin got to work, obviously using magic to speed up his own time a little as his eyes scanned the parchment and his hand flew across the blank sheets a shade faster than was normal . He pulled a pile towards him and picked up his own quill, not in the lightest bit worried about Merlin's threat.  
He'd said the same thing two days ago… and the week before… and twice the week before that. Heck, he'd been saying it for weeks. Months. Years even, Arthur realised, as he recalled a much younger Merlin informing a much younger Arthur that he could 'damn well write his own speeches from now on'.  
The king grinned as he watched his friend scowl, obviously coming across boring one, boredom level six at least, judging from the width and depth of the scowl on his face.  
Then he picked up his own and cursed.  
It was at least a level eight…

But before long they were bickering again, and a small part of Arthur had to agree with Merlins earlier statement.  
Merlin really did brighten up these tedious moments.  
Idiot.


End file.
